1. Mate

‘Mate’
– one of the commonly used terms of endearment and affection in British slang
terms. Used when you are talking to a close friend, and is often easily
substituted for the American ‘buddy’, ‘pal’, or ‘dude’.

For
example, ‘Alright, mate?’

2. Bugger All

‘Bugger
all’ – a British slang term used to be a more vulgar synonym for ‘nothing at
all’.

For
example, ‘I’ve had bugger all to do all day.’

3. Knackered

‘Knackered’
– a great word and phrase used by Britons to describe their tiredness and exhaustion,
in any given situation. Often substituted in friendly circles for ‘exhausted’.

For
example, ‘I am absolutely knackered after working all day.’

4. Gutted

‘Gutted’
– a British slang term that is one of the saddest on the lists in terms of pure
contextual emotion. To be ‘gutted’ about a situation means to be devastated and
saddened.

5. Gobsmacked

‘Gobsmacked’
– a truly British expression meaning to be shocked and surprised beyond belief.
The expression is believed by some to come literally from ‘gob’ (a British
expression for mouth), and the look of shock that comes from someone hitting
it.

For
example. ‘I was gobsmacked when she told me she was pregnant with triplets.’

6. Cock Up

‘Cock
up’ – a British slang term that is far from the lewdness its name suggests. A
‘cock up’ is a mistake, a failure of large or epic proportions.

For
example, ‘The papers sent out to the students were all in the wrong language –
it’s a real cock up.’ Also, ‘I cocked up the orders for table number four.’

7. Blinding

‘Blinding’
– a slang term that is far from something that physically causes someone to
lose their sight. ‘Blinding’ is a positive term meaning excellent, great, or
superb.

For
example, ‘That tackle from the Spanish player was blinding.’

8. Lost The Plot

‘Lost
the plot’ is one that can actually be discerned by examining the words
themselves. To ‘lose the plot’ can mean either to become angry and/or
exasperated to a fault, or in a derogatory – if slightly outdated sense – to
mean someone who has become irrational and/or acting ridiculously.

For
example, ‘When my girlfriend saw the mess I’d made, she lost the plot.’

9. Cheers

‘Cheers’
doesn’t quite have the same meaning that it does in other counties – of course,
it still means ‘celebrations’ when toasting a drink with some friends, but in
British slang, it also means ‘thanks’ or ‘thank you’.

For
example, ‘Cheers for getting me that drink, Steve’.

10. Ace

‘Ace’
– a British slang term that means something that is brilliant or excellent. Can
also mean to pass something with flying colors.

For
example, ‘Jenny is ace at the lab experiments’, or, for the latter definition,
‘I think I aced that exam’.

11. Damp Squib

More
of an usual term, a ‘damp squib’ in British slang terms refers to something
which fails on all accounts, coming from the ‘squib’ (an explosive), and the
propensity for them to fail when wet.

For
example, ‘The party was a bit of a damp squib because only Richard turned up.’

12. All To Pot

Slightly
more of an outdated version, this British slang term is still used, and its
meaning remains relevant today. ‘All to pot’ refers to a situation going out of
your control and failing miserably.

For
example, ‘The birthday party went all to pot when the clown turned up drunk and
everyone was sick from that cheap barbecue stuff.’

13. The Bee’s Knees

The
bee’s knees – a rather lovely term used to describe someone or something you
think the world of.

For
example, ‘She thinks Barry’s the bee’s knees’. Can also be used sarcastically
in this same sense.

14. Chunder

Not
a wonderfully melodic word, ‘chunder’ is part and parcel of British slang
terms. Meaning ‘to vomit’ or ‘to be sick’, ‘chunder’ is almost always used in
correlation with drunken nights, or being hugely ill and sick.

For
example, ‘I ate a bad pizza last night after too many drinks and chundered in
the street.’

15. Taking The Piss

Given
the British tendency to mock and satirise anything and everything possible,
‘taking the piss’ is in fact one of the most popular and widely-used British
slang terms. To ‘take the piss’ means to mock something, parody something, or
generally be sarcastic and derisive towards something.

For
example, ‘The guys on TV last night were taking the piss out of the government
again.’

16. Bollocks

Perhaps
one of the most internationally famous British slang terms, ‘bollocks’ has a
multitude of uses, although its top ones including being a curse word used to
indicate dismay, e.g. ‘Oh bollocks'; it can also be used to express derision
and mocking disbelief, e.g. ‘You slept with Kate Upton last night? Bollocks…';
and, of course, it also refers to the scrotum and testicles.

For
example, ‘I kicked him right in the bollocks when he wouldn’t let me go
past.’

17. Fortnight

‘Fortnight’
– a British slang term more commonly used by virtually everyone in the UK to mean ‘a group of
two weeks’.

For
example, ‘I’m going away for a fortnight to Egypt for my summer
holiday.’

18. Bollocking

Very
different to the ‘bollocks’ of the previous suggestion, a ‘bollocking’ is a
telling-off or a severe or enthusiastic reprimand from a boss, co-worker,
partner, or anyone you like, for a misdemeanour.

For
example, ‘My wife gave me a real bollocking for getting to pick up the dry
cleaning on my way home from work.’

19. Nice One

‘Nice
one’ – used almost always sarcastically in common British lexicon, although it
can be used sincerely depending on the context.

For
example, ‘You messed up the Rutherford order? Nice one,
really.’

20. Brass Monkeys

A
more obscure British term, ‘brass monkeys’ is used to refer to extremely cold
weather. The phrase comes from the expression, ‘it’s cold enough to freeze the
balls off a brass monkey’.

21. Dodgy

In
British slang terms, ‘dodgy’ refers to something wrong, illegal, or just plain
‘off’, in one way or another.

For
example, it can be used to mean illegal – ‘He got my dad a dodgy watch for
Christmas'; it can be used to mean something food-related that is nauseous or
nauseating – ‘I had a dodgy kebab last night and I don’t feel right.; and it
can also be used as a pejorative – ‘He just seems dodgy to me.’

22. Scrummy

One
of the more delightful British slang terms in this list, ‘scrummy’ is used as a
wonderfully effusive term for when something is truly delicious and
mouth-wateringly good.

For
example, ‘Mrs Walker’s pie was absolutely scrummy. I had three pieces.’

23. Kerfuffle

Another
rather delightful and slightly archaic words in this list of British slang
terms is ‘kerfuffle’. ‘Kerfuffle’ describes a skirmish or a fight or an
argument caused by differing views.

For
example, ‘I had a right kerfuffle with my girlfriend this morning over
politics.’

24. Tosh

A
nifty little British term that means ‘rubbish’ or ‘crap’.

For
example, ‘That’s a load of tosh about what happened last night’, or ‘Don’t talk
tosh.’

25. Car Park

One
of the more boring and technical terms on this list, a ‘car park’ is in effect,
the place outside or attached to a building where people park their cars. The
British equivalent to the American ‘parking lot’ or ‘parking garage’.

For
example, ‘I left my car in the car park this morning.’

26. Skive

‘Skive’
– a British slang term used to indicate when someone has failed to turn up for
work or an obligation due to pretending to fake illness. Most commonly used
with schoolchildren trying to get out of school, or dissatisfied office workers
trying to pull a sick day.

For
example, ‘He tried to skive off work but got caught by his manager.’

27. Rubbish

One
of the most commonly-used British phrases, ‘rubbish’ is used to mean both
general waste and trash, and to also express disbelief in something to the point
of ridicule (in this sense it is a much-more PG-friendly version of
‘bollocks’.)

For
example, it can be used respectively, in, ‘Can you take the rubbish out
please?’, and ‘What? Don’t talk rubbish.’

28. Wanker

Oh,
‘wanker’. Possibly the best British insult on the list, it fits a certain niche
for a single-worded insult to lobbied out in a moment of frustration, anger,
provocation, or, of course, as a jest amongst friends. ‘Wanker’ fits the
closest fit by ‘jerk’ or ‘asshole’, but to a slightly higher value.

For
example, ‘That guy just cut me up in traffic – what a wanker.’

29. Hunky-Dory

‘Hunky-dory’
– a neat little piece of British slang that means that a situation is okay,
cool, or normal.

For
example, ‘Yeah, everything’s hunky-dory at the office.’

30. Brilliant

The
last, but most certainly not least, term on this list, ‘brilliant’ is not a
word exclusively in the British lexicon, but has a very British usage.
Specifically, when something is exciting or wonderful, particularly when
something is good news, ‘brilliant’ can mean as such.